Indies aside, women in film still face an uphill battle

By Bob Strauss

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

"The Heat" opened to $39 million over the weekend. That's a nice number, considering it's about what the female buddy-cop comedy cost to make. It was better than the very good $35.4 million opening co-star Melissa McCarthy's hit comedy "Identity Thief" enjoyed in February, way better than the $26 million first weekend superhit "Bridesmaids" had two years ago -- and it humiliated the testosterone-driven, $150 million action spectacular "White House Down," which premiered this weekend, quite inadequately, to less than $25 million.

All of which is good news, obviously, for women in Hollywood, who have had it pretty rough of late.

A study published by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism earlier this year noted that in 2012's top 100 box-office hits, only 28.4 percent of the speaking roles were for women and just 16.7 of the key directing, writing and producing positions went to females.

Not unexpectedly, that has resulted in disproportionately sexualized, idealized and otherwise underdimensionalized onscreen portrayals of the fairer sex. And as has been widely reported, "The Heat" is the only women-led movie major Hollywood studios are releasing this summer.

But the success of "The Heat" will change all that, right? Ha-ha. Sounds like something only a man would say.

" 'The Heat' shouldn't be a big deal. It shouldn't be some watershed moment in the history of women in film," said Anne Thompson, a longtime industry observer and editor of the website Thompson on Hollywood. "It should be something that's normal, everyday. What I've realized over the years is that every time there's a step forward in the form of a big hit that women flock to -- "Sex and the City," "Twilight," "Bridesmaids," "Beaches" back in the day -- people act as if they were just discovering something."

That may be because, no matter how much success individual women-led films have repeatedly had, the Hollywood machine is geared more and more every year toward the crude comedies and fantasy blockbusters that tend to suck in the valued first-weekend audience of young males and play well throughout international markets. Their outrageous humor, big fights and explosive action translates easier overseas than the more verbal and emotionally nuanced stories women typically create and headline.

That's just how studio development people are geared to think. Even when such films as "Bridesmaids" and now "Heat" prove girls can be just as raunchy or tough as the man-boys who dominate Hollywood.

"It's insane," declared Paul Feig -- a man, true, but, as the director of the two aforementioned hits, one who clearly appreciates strong, flawed, funny women. "It's embarrassing that it's 2013 and we're having a discussion like this. But it comes down to economics, and Hollywood is a business. If their business models show that women don't show up to see other women or ... I don't know what these business models are, to be quite honest. But I've had them thrown at me enough in my career.

"It's ridiculous to fall back on an excuse to not do something," he reckoned. "I have had producers and people in the business who have occasionally told me, 'You don't want to get pigeonholed as the Women's Guy.' Why wouldn't I? Is Martin Scorsese worried about being pigeonholed as a guy who directs a lot of men? It makes no sense."

Lucky stars like Bullock, McCarthy and Meryl Streep (not so long ago the Queen of Summer but who is uncharacteristically MIA this season) aside, actresses are noticing the lack of decent jobs in, at least, high-paying, widely distributed studio films. "It's been hard finding a great female role," said Rooney Mara, who appeared in "The Social Network" and was Oscar nominated for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" but has only been making independent films for the past few years. "There are so many great scripts or movies where the female role isn't that great."

"I think it's true there are not as many women's roles as men's, and a lot of times they tend to be these archetypal wise women or girlfriends -- kind of two-dimensional to move the plot forward," said Mireille Enos, who has the role of, yes, Brad Pitt's wife in the summer blockbuster "World War Z." Like many actresses, she has found steadier, more challenging work on smaller screens, where she headlines AMC's series "The Killing."

"Even though it's good it's being spoken about, there is so much going on," acknowledged Gemma Arterton, a British actress with two very different, independently produced movies in L.A. theaters at the moment: the erotic vampire thriller "Byzantium" and the feel-good geriatric dramedy "Unfinished Song." "It's very much bubbling, I really feel like it's going to happen soon. There are certain TV shows and films that have been made that prove there is a better market for the female voice. People will go and are interested in seeing what's real and stuff like that. The problem is, it's really hard to get financing, Even for 'Byzantium,' we found it so hard to make this movie because there was no lead male in it."

Wait a minute, a dedicated L.A. moviegoer might say. Sure, indie financing is increasingly difficult, but that hasn't stopped a wide array of strong, complex, compellingly imperfect and just plain realistic portrayals of women this year in such diverse titles as "Frances Ha," "Stories We Tell," "The East," "The Bling Ring," "Much Ado About Nothing" and, prurience aside, even the occasionally empowering "Spring Breakers."

Looks like a veritable feast of feminine diversity. Just keep in mind that all these films put together will probably play on just a fraction of the screens "Man of Steel" opened to across North America.

The Sundance Institute and the nonprofit Women in Film commissioned another USC study that found a higher percentage of women in key behind-the-lens positions on features that have been programmed at the Sundance Film Festival (16.9 percent directed by women over 11 years) than on the box-office top 100 (a minuscule 4.1 percent last year).

Sundance is implementing a mentorship program, and WIF is trying to teach women to focus as much on the financial as the creative elements of the projects they are pitching. Schulman also hopes that getting the word out about the statistics to agencies and production companies, as well as endeavoring to dispel myths such as women can't multitask as well as men when it comes to family-versus-work concerns, will help turn the situation around.

"I don't think that men in Hollywood are necessarily trying to keep women down in some huge agenda," Schulman said. "I think it's more that we've got a sort of cultural ennui, where we've been doing the same things the same way for so long that changing and acknowledging the need is half the battle."